NINE oil exploration firms have come together to launch the Offshore Petroleum Association of South Africa (Opasa), a pressure group to convey the upstream industry’s interests to the government. The firms are Energy Africa, Forest Oil Corporation, Mossgas,PanCanadian Petroleum Limited, Phillips Petroleum SA, Petroleum Limited, Pioneer Natural Resources SA, Sasol Petroleum International and Soekor. The formation of the pressure group follows Soekor’s aggressive programme of granting offshore exploration licences which had attracted many international operators back to the country. Offshore exploration to date has discovered far more gas than crude oil, with the only notable find being the Oribi field off the southern coast. However, there remain vast tracts of as yet unexplored seabed off the country’s 3000 km coastline, and an almost completely undeveloped energy transport infrastructure onshore.
NIGERIANS SHUN GENERAL STRIKE
NIGERIAN private sector employees on Thursday shunned a general strike ordered by the main trade unions federation Thursday as many turned up for work. Last week, the Nigeria Labour Congress asked private sector workers to join their colleagues in the public sector in a general strike to press a demand for payment of an agreed minimum wage. The public sector strike was launched in 24 of Nigeria’s 36 states to press a demand for payment of the new monthly minimum of 3000 naira ($33-dollars) agreed in March.